Burned Deep (Burned 1)

“It’s a loaner. I told the owner in Las Vegas who has it up for sale that I was interested in a test drive.”

“To Arizona?”

“I told him I’d need it overnight—and paid him handsomely.”

Fuck! He’d found a car that, on the outside, looked identical to Dane’s. The guards at the entrance of the property wouldn’t have batted an eye as it came barreling toward the gates—as we did now on our way out. I wanted to scream at the injustice. This man drove a vehicle that was so rare, only twenty-nine people other than Dane had one.

We blew right through the opening without slowing down. Then he punched it, driving so fast that even if I could have found the lock on the door and had the nerve to attempt to get out just hitting the pavement might have killed me.

As though he sensed I contemplated an escape, Vale Hilliard said, “If you cooperate, you won’t get hurt.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Kidnapping you is a start.”

With an aggravated shake of my head, I said, “You sent the flowers, didn’t you?” Damn it! I’d fallen right into his trap.

He grinned again. “Dane will panic when he realizes you’re missing. I’ll call him and tell him he can have you back, unharmed—for a price.”

I swallowed hard. “You want part of the Lux.”

“No. My father does.”

My gaze narrowed. “Your father?”

“Well, I get something out of it as well.” He slowed—barely—and I screamed as we took a hairpin turn onto a red-dirt road, the tires squealing as we left the asphalt behind. The car splashed through a puddle, coating the car crimson. The rugged terrain jarred me and we slipped a bit in the mud.

My heart now pounded fiercely.

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll stay in the canyon, since there’s no cell reception here. No reason for you to try to call Dane yourself. Or 9-1-1. I’ll have to leave you in order to phone him. But don’t worry, I’ll tie you up nice and tight. And since there’s no one within miles, you can scream as loud as you’d like—not a soul will hear you.”

It took a bit for me to recover. Eventually, I said, “You’re not seriously going to leave me in the middle of nowhere?”

“One of us will come back for you.” His tone turned dark as he added, “For your sake, hope it’s Dane.”

“Oh, my God,” I whispered. My stomach roiled. This couldn’t be happening. And there was no way out of it. The man had a gun. I couldn’t outrun bullets. Or him. Even if I had two seconds to reach for my phone and hit Dane’s speed dial number, it would do no good. I knew there was no service this deep in a box canyon. I even had trouble sometimes at the Lux.

Son of a bitch! What was I going to do?

What about Dane? He’d spit nails when he found out I was missing. Not to mention, he’d be hellaciously worried about me. Would blame himself for my precarious predicament.

My mind reeled. What had he done to piss off the senior Hilliard enough for his son to resort to taking me hostage and extorting some of the shares in Lux from Dane?

We came to a jerky halt alongside a two-story house with scaffolding lining the font. Brush and sycamores surrounded it, creating a secluded alcove.

Vale said, “I noticed construction had stopped because of the ra

in.”

How long had he been scouting a place to hide me?

He continued. “Roof’s on. At least you’ll be dry.”

At least?

“You can’t just leave me here.” My panic reached all-new levels.